


Dancing Around the Subject

by LightDressedAsSatan2MakeUp4HisGodComplex (Wonderlandian_Geek)



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dance, Ballet, Bonding, Crushes, Cute, Dancing, Fluff, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied Relationships, Kinda, Light does Ballet, M/M, References to The Nutcracker, Yotsuba Arc (Death Note)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27563533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonderlandian_Geek/pseuds/LightDressedAsSatan2MakeUp4HisGodComplex
Summary: A few weeks into being chained to L, Light decides to bring out his old dance stuff.
Relationships: L & Yagami Light, L/Yagami Light
Comments: 5
Kudos: 85





	Dancing Around the Subject

**Author's Note:**

> So, I’ve been in LawLight and Death Note hell for a few weeks now. And I do ballet, so Light does too, LOL.
> 
> Also, I’m going with the timeline of the anime, which takes place in 2006/2007, so that’s why they have access to YouTube. There may or may not have been an unnecessary five minutes of research that happened before I wrote this.

Light frowns at the black canvas bag in the closet. What’s his dance stuff doing at task force headquarters? He doesn’t remember taking it when L had brought him home to pack up. His best guess is that maybe he’d grabbed it by accident in his haste to pack everything in his closet.

He picks up the bag and pulls it out if the closet. He hasn’t really opened it since last summer. His parents made him quit his ballet classes so he could prepare for university. Plus, it’d never been something he wanted to do for the rest of his life, it was just something he’d enjoyed. So he figures right before college was probably the best time to quit anyway.

Well, he doesn’t have any university to prepare for now. And despite the fact that it’s nearly midnight, he’s not exactly tired. When he’d told L that he was, it’d just been an excuse to get him to take a break, really. 

So he changes out of his button up and jeans and into one of his old dance t-shirts and a par of yoga pants, ignoring the confused glances from L, who is sitting on their bed with his laptop in front of him.

“I thought you were changing into your pajamas?” the detective says.

Light shrugs. “Eh. I’m not really tired. Plus, I found my old dance bag buried in the closet. So I figured I’d just go through some of my old routines. It’s been a while since I’ve done any ballet.”

L frowns. “I didn’t know you did ballet.”

“Really?” he scoffs. He finishes slipping his ballet shoes on and starts to warm up, using the desk next to the bed as a barre. “I thought you knew everything about me.”

“Apparently not.”

Light nods, chuckling. “Apparently.” He moves on from tendus and degagés to pliés. “I’ve done ballet for most of my life. My parents made me quit last summer though. I agreed, but now I kinda regret it. I’ve been missing it a lot more than I thought I would.”

L hums and turns back to his laptop, moving closer to the edge of the bed so Light would have more room. Light finishes his barre warm up before sitting on the floor. They sit in silence for a few minutes while he stretches.

Eventually, Light stands again, shaking his arms out and rolling his head around his shoulders. He moves a few feet away from the bed and positions himself for a simple turn combination.

And his gaze slips down to the handcuff on his left wrist.

“Oh. Right.” He sighs and sits on the bed next to L. “Guess I didn’t think this through.”

Without a word, L takes the handcuff key out of his pocket and swiftly unlocks the cuffs.

Light blinks in shock, rubbing his wrist as he turns to look at L. “What was that for?”

“You looked sad. It’s only going to be a few minutes, right? And it’s not like you’re going anywhere else to do this.”

“Thank you, Ryuzaki,” he says, smiling fondly at the detective. He stands back up and repositions himself for the combo.

This time, L pushes his laptop away and looks up to watch him.

“Hey, uh,” Light says nervously, “if you don’t mind, could you maybe play some music? Like, _Nutcracker,_ or something?”

“Of course.” L picks his laptop back up and opens YouTube to a recording of the score of _The Nutcracker._ He sets it on the bed and his gaze returns to the beautiful man before him.

Light grins and immediately launches into his old routines. He spins and leaps and mimes lifts. When songs that he knows play, he performs those dances for L. During the “Boys’ Dance”, he pretends to hold a sword tight to his side and dances rigidly, rarely bending his arms or legs. In “Rats and Soldiers”, he holds his hands in claws and scurries around the room, laughing and trying to scare L in the dark. His part in “Arabian” was mostly accompanying the female performer, but he’d challenged himself to learn her part too, and puts his own flexibility to the test as he slowly slides into and out of the splits. During songs he doesn’t know, or never danced in, he does other dances that he’d learned over his several years of taking ballet classes.

He goes through the whole score, and when he’s finished, L applauds. Light is startled to notice the detective is smiling blindingly at him, and he doesn’t miss the pale pink blush dusting his cheeks. He bows jokingly, but then reminds L that they should probably go to bed, and changes out of his dance clothes into his pajamas.

Light is once again surprised when L places his laptop onto the desk and crawls under the blankets with him.

”Aren’t you going to put the handcuffs back on?” he asks, yawning.

L hums, watching him fondly. “In the morning. We’re just going to sleep right now, correct? And I can guarantee that I’m going to be awake before you anyway, so I don’t see much point.”

Light’s eyes flutter closed as he nods, easily drifting off into sleep.

L is, in fact, _not_ awake before Light the next morning, so Light lays in silence as he waits for him to wake up. He’s only seen L asleep once or twice during this whole time, and each time he realizes that the detective sleeping is the most adorable thing he’s ever seen before.

Light dancing becomes part of their routine. Every other night, he pulls out his dance bag and performs for L. None of the rest of the task force know about it, and if they notice that L and Light seem much closer than should be expected of a detective and his prime suspect, well, they don’t say anything.

**Author's Note:**

> wHeW I’m getting flashbacks as I write this, LOL. It’s been a few years since I’ve actually done ballet, I mostly do tap, lyrical, and musical theatre dance now. I don’t really miss it, but at the same time I would give ANYTHING to be backstage in my _Nutcracker_ party scene dress again. So I guess this could kinda be considered a vent fic? Meh, read into it if you want. IDC. 
> 
> Also, this is the first time I’m writing a DN fic that I DON’T have songs from the musical stuck in my head. Instead, I have _Nutcracker_ music stuck in my head. Yay? (Yeah, yeah, this is only my second DN fic, BUT Look Through His Eyes is multi-chap, so technically it still counts.)


End file.
